Those were the days

I've been watching a lot of French movies lately because I am trying to sharpen my language skills. It's been awhile since I've used the language except to read - I was fortunate enough in my old job to use it in that way, and my nose is constantly in some French book. (The last one I read was 99 Francs (13.99 euros) by I'm sure it's out in English now - they're making a movie of it. I highly recommend it, especially if your heart breaks from excessive marketing.)

Anyway, I've been checking out French movies from the library, which has a surprisingly large collection of foreign movies, especially for an industrial town. Problem is, they aren't properly sorted by language, so when I do an online search for French films, anything with French comes up - French Kiss, French Connection, anything with Jean Reno in it even if it is a Hollywood movie. So I got this movie called Babette's Feast. It's Danish with a tiny bit of French in it. The French woman, Babette, learns to speak Danish very quickly and that's that.

Despite this, I enjoyed the film. A small town in the Jutland has a puritanical preacher who never lets his daughters marry. They grow up and grow old having never known anything but religion. By chance, a French opera singer comes to the town for a respite and falls for one of the daughters, but she would have none of it though she really wanted to. Years later, a woman appears at their door with a letter from the singer. He asks them to take her - Babette - in as a refuge from a war in France which has killed her husband and her son, so she becomes their maid.

For the 100th anniversary of their father's birth, the sisters plan a feast. Around that time, Babette learns she has won 10,000 francs in a French lottery. She begs the sisters to be able to cook a French feast for the anniversary dinner. Twelve puritans are to attend. She orders the food from France - a bunch of living things arrive, like a giant turtle for soup. The women freak out and think she's planning a witches feast. It starts to get funny around this time. They rush to the friends who will be attending the dinner and they all pray to God to lose their sense of taste for the meal. It doesn't happen. They all adore it and amends are made between friends, old loves, etc.

The sisters assume since Babette had won the money, she'd be returning to Paris. She couldn't, however. She'd spent the entire 10,000 francs on the feast. Turns out she was the head chef at one of the finest restaurants in Paris, where a dinner for 12 costs 10,000 francs.

It was a movie worth watching - if only for the pleasure of watching good food and drink being consumed. Which brings me to the wine. I bought a bottle of the Junior cav today. I'd gone into Kroger to get some Sam Adams and wandered over to the wine to see what was available from a chain grocery store in an industrial town. I never got very far, because my mind was distracted by baseball. On display in the very front were bottles of Junior and Homer, both cabernet savignons, and Larkin, a merlot.

I'm not expecting much from them. The bottles cost $13.99, but I'm sure much of the price is in the label. I'm willing to bet the wine is more akin to a $6.99 bottle. Now, there are some decent $6.99 Californian and Australian wines, so I'm hoping this will be one of them. I chose the Junior wine because I don't like merlot, but I'm going to have to get a bottle just to have the bottle. I'll get it last.

Ahh, Barry...those were the days.

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